


Sutura

by Imogen_LeFay



Series: Paging Dr. Smythe [3]
Category: Glee
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Pointy Things, Sewing, Stitching, arts and crafts, cause that would be silly, except no
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:15:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25941199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imogen_LeFay/pseuds/Imogen_LeFay
Summary: When Sebastian said he had some stitching to do, this was not what Blaine had expected.
Relationships: Blaine Anderson/Sebastian Smythe
Series: Paging Dr. Smythe [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1790026
Comments: 14
Kudos: 49





	Sutura

* * *

It was ridiculous. Blaine knew he was being ridiculous, even as he was pacing as much as his living room allowed. He had absolutely nothing in the world to worry about. Especially not calling his boyfriend.

Maybe he should text first?

He sighed, shaking his head. Ridiculous. Sebastian’s shift had ended an hour ago, so he was probably just leaving the hospital anyway. Either he’d answer or he didn’t. Maybe he’d even be grateful for a distraction?

Before he could change his mind, he started a call. He was close to ending it again, when it went through.

“You’re literally the only person I know who actually calls people,” Sebastian said instead of a greeting. Despite his words, he sounded happy.

“You’re a doctor, you call people all the time,” Blaine replied, grinning as he matched his boyfriend’s tone.

“Totally different,” Sebastian replied. “And also, I hate it. So, what’s up? Or did you just want to hear my voice?”

Blaine rolled his eyes. “Obviously,” he said, letting sarcasm drip from his words. “But, um… actually, are you free tonight? It’s… okay, it’s kind of stupid, but Rachel texted me to ask if I want to come along to Callbacks, for old time’s sake. And I was wondering whether you might want to come with me?”

There was a moment of hesitation, before Sebastian answered. “I’m pretty sure she hates me,” he said, “and what are the odds of your ex showing up?”

Blaine bit his lower lip. “Not quite zero, which is high enough that I kind of don’t want to go on my own,” he said. “And even if he doesn’t, Rachel is really invested in making me talk to him again.”

“You could just not go,” Sebastian said.

“I’m considering it,” Blaine said, “but I can’t avoid her forever. I mean, I could, but I don’t want to. This was really short notice, though, she probably won’t be too upset if I tell her no. I still haven’t really decided. So, you’re busy then?”

“Kind of,” Sebastian said, “I really need to get some stitching done.”

Blaine stopped, frowning. “Stitching?” he repeated. “That doesn’t exactly sound urgent?”

“Unfortunately, it is,” Sebastian said with a sigh. “I really need to get this done tonight.”

“Oh, okay,” Blaine said, trying not to let his disappointment shine through. Still, though, to be ignored for some arts and crafts wasn’t the best feeling. “So… are we still on for Tuesday?” Almost a week, but Sebastian would be working the weekend, and Blaine was performing the other days.

“Definitely,” Sebastian said. “Is this okay?”

“Of course it is,” Blaine said immediately. Sure, he would have preferred for Sebastian to come with him. But it was short notice, and really, not the most enticing plan. He could be a big boy and just go meet his old friend. If she started discussing any former relationships, he could always tell her to shut up. “Have fun with your stitching.”

“I definitely won’t,” Sebastian replied. “You can text me when Rachel gets too much. I can call you with a fake emergency or something.”

Blaine grinned. “You’re the best,” he said. “Talk to you soon.”

After the goodbye, he ended the call and walked into his bedroom, starting to plan an outfit for tonight. He was still wondering whether he should even go to Callbacks. It had been a while since he’d seen Rachel or Jesse, and he kind of missed them. The problem was that Rachel was a bit too invested into his broken marriage, and Blaine had no interest in revisiting that particular train wreck for a long time, maybe ever. He started humming All I Ask Of You, finding comfort and confirmation in the melody.

Then again, he wasn’t quite willing to give up on his friendships, and it would be good to see them again. With new determination, he grabbed his phone again and sent a text to Rachel that he would come

And really, what was the worst that could happen?

* * *

It took three hours until he was standing in front of Sebastian’s door. Only then did he start to doubt his impulse decision.

So, he’d known Rachel wanted him to talk about his failed marriage. But when she casually mentioned that Kurt would drop in later, Blaine had to admit he’d underestimated her. He didn’t feel bad about ditching them – really, she should have expected that after her stunt – but now that he was actually in front of Sebastian’s door, he wondered if the smart move wouldn’t have been to just go back to his own place. He probably should have at least texted…

Still, it was kind of late to turn around now. He was here already, might as well go through with it. Before he could change his mind, he rang the bell.

It took a moment, but then he could hear movement inside. The door opened and he found himself in front of his boyfriend, an expression of annoyance on his face that quickly melted into a smile.

“Hey,” he said, “was Rachel seriously that bad?”

Blaine chuckled. “Let’s say the company was fine, but I decided to leave before it got expanded.”

Sebastian’s eyebrows rose, even as he stepped aside to let him in. “She seriously tried to trick you into talking to your ex?” he asked.

“Seriously,” Blaine said, following him into the kitchen.

Without even asking, Sebastian went to the fridge, pulled out two cans of cider and opened them. “With friends like that,” he muttered as he offered one of the cans.

“Tell me about it,” Blaine said, taking a gulp. “I just told her I’d love to stay longer, but I really have to help my boyfriend with his arts and crafts project.”

Sebastian blinked in confusion. “My what?”

“You know, the stitching thing,” Blaine said. “Mostly, I wanted to get out of there. But I figured, if you need to get whatever it is done tonight, I might actually help you?”

Sebastian chuckled. “I appreciate the thought, but you really can’t.”

“I can sew,” Blaine said, his expression darkening. At least he could sew well enough to fix lost buttons and smaller wear and tear on jeans. “As long as you don’t need Vogue level quality…” He’d once helped Kurt with something for his magazine when a deadline was looming. After he was done with the first piece, his then-husband had stared at him as if he’d insulted Kurt’s dead mother, and then told Blaine to please never try to help him again. So yes, he was definitely not bitter.

Sebastian on the other hand grinned, as if he’d just heard the best joke. “I don’t think they’ll need any outrageous patterns,” he said. “But I’m not actually doing arts and crafts.”

Blaine frowned. “You said you have some sewing to do. Or stitching, or whatever.”

“Stitching,” Sebastian said, “or rather sutures. Come on.”

When Blaine followed him into the living room, he could see the dining table cleared of its usual clutter. Instead, there was a flesh-colored, silicon square. Beside it, there were a few instruments that looked like tweezers and scissors.

“One of our patients gets a dialysis catheter tomorrow,” Sebastian explained, “and I talked the attending into letting me try.”

“What for?” Blaine asked, slightly curious.

“She has Guillain-Barré,” Sebastian said, “it’s a form of progressive paralysis, autoimmune. The treatment so far hasn’t worked, so we’re doing a different procedure. It’s kind of like dialysis, but only filters out the antibodies.” He stopped himself and shook his head. “Sorry, it’s a bit complicated. The point is, for the procedure they need a special catheter, and those are typically held in place by sutures.”

Blaine nodded, just a bit disappointed that he’d stopped. He couldn’t always follow when Sebastian talked medical things, but Blaine somehow loved listening to him. The enthusiasm he showed was a far way from the sarcastic teenager he’d been.

“So, what are you stitching up?” Blaine asked. “I doubt you brought the patient over to practice?”

Sebastian laughed, shaking his head. “Can you keep a secret?”

Blaine nodded.

Sebastian sighed dramatically. “I suck at sutures.”

Blaine gasped audibly. “What, something you’re not perfect at? Say it ain’t so!”

Sebastian rolled his eyes as he walked over to the table. “It’s the truth,” he said, shaking his head, “always hated it. That’s why I’m not in surgery. I hate sutures. I thought neurologists never have to stitch. Unfortunately, there are exceptions. So, I sat down to practice. It’s better now, but I still hate it.”

Blaine followed, and looked at the patch of silicon. On closer inspection, he could see several cuts in the material, probably meant to practice sewing the edges together. Sebastian had ignored all of them and stitched knots right into the silicon.

“Can I see?” Blaine asked.

“Sure,” Sebastian said with a shrug.

Blaine looked around for needles, but he could only see a dark blue, thin thread. Still standing, Sebastian picked up one of the instruments that looked like it couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be tweezers or scissors, holding it between his thumb and middle finger. The thread moved as Sebastian lifted it, and Blaine now saw that it ended in a piece of gleaming metal, curved into a crescent, and held with the instrument.

“Don’t you use your hand?” Blaine asked.

Sebastian shook his head. “That would be asking for needle stitch injury. Always use the instruments. Here, I’ll show you.”

Blaine watched as Sebastian held the curved needle with his instrument and pushed it into the silicon. With a twisting motion, he pushed the needle up in a semicircle, and back to the surface, carefully pulling the thread until only a short length, less than an inch remained over the original intrusion.

“Now I have to tie it into a knot, and it’s done,” Sebastian explained.

Blaine frowned. “Isn’t that piece too short to tie a knot?”

Sebastian shook his head. “That’s why you use the needle holder.”

He twirled the thread over his instrument and used it to pull the short piece of thread through the newly created loop. He repeated the maneuver two more times, before he put down the instrument.

“There.”

Curious, Blaine pulled at the knot. It held.

“That looked pretty professional,” he said.

Sebastian snorted. “You’re only saying this because you’ve never seen a surgeon.”

Blaine rolled his eyes and dropped a short kiss to his boyfriend’s jawline. “Just take a compliment, Smythe.”

Sebastian blinked at him in surprise, as if he hadn’t expected to ever be on the receiving end of these words. Eventually, he put an arm around Blaine’s waist, pulling him close

“I’d hope it looks kind of professional, I practiced this for two hours,” he muttered. “You actually have a pretty good timing.”

“Done with stitching?” Blaine asked, looking up.

Sebastian looked at him, right in his eyes, and his smile almost took Blaine’s breath away. For just one moment, his boyfriend looked perfectly content, and Blaine wished he could freeze time. Then Sebastian’s lips were on his, and he forgot to think.

“I think I am,” Sebastian said when he pulled away. “Let’s move on to the fun part of tonight. Unexpected as it is.”

With a bit of surprise and relief Blaine realized that just a few weeks ago, he probably would have perceived that as a slight dig at his spontaneous appearance. Now, there was no doubt, not a hint of insecurity within him as Sebastian led him towards the couch and then pushed him into the pillows. For a moment, he stopped, looked up at Sebastian, his eyes dark, the hints of tiredness pushed aside by arousal, felt the other man’s weight on top of him, the warmth of his body, breathed him in…

“What?” Sebastian asked softly, peppering his cheeks with kisses.

Blaine shook his head and didn’t even try to fight the smile that spread over his face. Not yet, he thought, as he caught Sebastian’s lips in a kiss.

“Just thinking how I’m kind of happy with how tonight went,” he said.

Not yet, he thought, as he let himself sink into the emotion he wasn’t willing to name yet.

Not yet. But soon.


End file.
